Lovely! And made with love...

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

I came across the Alicia Doily Rug and wanted to make it in maroon for my half-bath downstairs. I ordered the yarn and one fine Saturday last October started making it while watching Airlift!

Initial enthusiasm gave way to fatigue resulting from tight crocheting holding two strands and using a smaller than usual hook size (don't need drape on a rug, so it's got to be tight!). So this got shelved for SO long! I found other things to make and kept putting this on the back burner - you know the one that is the farthest! :)

But the very nice bag that this unfinished rug sat in kept taunting me so I picked it up and finished it out of spite LOL!!

Here it is... my very beautiful doily rug. It is about 3 ft wide, and I LOVE it :)

You can see some scallops curling up, but that's because this photo was taken as soon as I finished it :) After blocking it lays nice and flat.

The pattern does not follow the traditional 12 stitch increases for DC, to account for the thickness of the two strands held together. But the 10 stitch increases are perfect.

For rounds where the stitch count increases, I used my own noodle to identify how I wanted to increase stitches - the written directions were difficult for me to follow. So I calculated the difference in the two stitch counts and evenly distributed that around my increase round.

Also, I skipped two rounds that came just before the large scallops - I'd had it, I didn't want to tight crochet anymore!! So again, I reviewed the scallop pattern to see what multiples I'd need, and winged it :)

Friday, December 2, 2016

Our family welcomed a baby earlier this year, and in the middle of my move from TX to CA I only sent her store bought presents :) Nothing wrong with that, but I could not let her first Christmas go by without sending something handmade for her :D

Thursday, December 1, 2016

With my sister's upcoming birthday I wanted to make her something, here is what came of it -

I made this using worsted acrylic yarn and a K hook. I steam blocked it before packing it up :) I used moogly blog's fortune shawlette pattern, and Tamara is right - once you get the hang of it, it flies off the hook!

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

I made me some fingerless mitts to wear while I work on my computer. Soon enough, those were highjacked by my 3yo. So I made a pair for her :)Her size:23 FDC, join.R2-8: one DC in each stitch.R9: DC upto where you want the thumb hole to be. CH5, skip 4 stitches and DC rest of the way.R10: DC in each DC, 4DC in the CH4 space.Finishing - made picots (so she knows what end to insert her hands from) CH3-slip stitch in the first chain and that creates the picot. Slip stitch into the next 3 DCs and create the next picot, so the picots are 3 DC apart.

My size:(Hook size I, Yellow Bernat yarn)24 FDC, join to make a circle.Rounds 2-4: FPDC-BPDC to make the ribbingRound 5: one HDC in each DCRound 6: HDC in each HDC, through the "3rd" loop, so that the chain made by the 1st & 2nd loop is visible on the top of the fabric.R7-9: 1 DC in each stitchR10-12: DC in each DC, but increase 2 DC in each ros, evenly distributed across the row. (I needed some give to my mitts since I type a lot with these on. Try them on and see how it fits - you may like them snugger, or your hands may be narrower than mine :))R13: DC upto where you want the thumb hole to be. Thumb hole is CH7, skip 6 stitches, and then DC the rest of the way.R14-15: one DC in each DC, 6DC in the CH6 space. Decrease 2 stitches in each row.Finishing: I made shells using skip one-5DC in next-skip next-slip stitch in next.It may happen that the number of stitches you have may not be a multiple of 4, in that case, just leave the 1/2/3 extra stitches flat (mine are on the palm side).

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Last year, I made a crochet hat for my 2 year old. It was super dainty "hat" with a rim and a flower. I loved it, she did not!

Looking back (through her 2 year old eyes) I now realize that it was so “blah”!! No eyes, no ears!!

So this winter I am thinking like her and going with what she likes :) For halloween she wants to be a minion, so guess what I made ;)

Its a regular beanie, made with HDC spirals.

For the minion pattern, I went 9 rounds with yellow + 3 with black + 10 more with yellow + 3 with blue.

For the eye, I made a white disc with 2 rounds of DC (12-24) and sewed that on. Then I made one round of 6 SC in black and sewed that on top of the white. For his glasses (glass?!) I used heather grey yarn and did one round of surface crochet around the white, and then another round of HDC in each of those surface stitches, so the grey rim is 3D. And his smile was one line of surface SCs.

The hair is made of small yarn strands threaded through the top, and knotted.

And you know what, it is going to be Diwali soon, so stay tuned for my this year's card!!